November 14 - 1957 - The Apalachin Meeting

A large number of Mafia leaders met at the compound of crime boss Joseph Barbara, in the small town of Apalachin in Upstate New York, in order to settle disputes and make the various families achieve a new status quo after the assassination of Albert Anastasia. Instead, they mostly got arrested, because a local highway patrolman realized lots of luxury cars registered to known criminals were all gathering at a large estate. After local law enforcement busted the meeting, dozens of mafioso were arrested, with twenty eventually having charges brought against them, although their convictions would be overturned on appeal. More importantly, the Apalachin Meeting and subsequent arrests meant that the FBI and Director J. Edgar Hoover had to acknowledge there actually was an organized mafia, which he had never done before.